Bio:

Ynnefer Stark was born in northern Thracia, the eldest daughter of a plantation owner. When she was a very young girl, the Iron Priests began their war of conquest. Her family fled to the south, eventually arriving in Thracia City. Her father, having savings and stock in several of Thracia’s banks, as well as having funded the war against the Iron Priests through the purchase of war-bonds, arranged to have her sent to a prestigious girl’s academy. She attended this school from the age of 6 to 11. Her father, having been a wealthy land-owner, was given the rank of Lieutenant in the Thracian Militia, though his unit was assigned to the defense of Thracia City itself, so he was not deployed far from home.

Ynnefer expressed an interest in her father’s military life while her mother hosted ladies’ tea and parties for the upper-crust of Thracian society. As a result, she learned the best of both worlds, military tactics and fencing from private tutors from various military academies, and social graces and diplomacy from her mother. As the war wore on, however, rationing and declining fortunes severely crimped her family’s lifestyle. By the time her 13th birthday came around, her family was on the edge of bankruptcy.

As luck would have it, her family met with a band of traveling clerics who were passing through Thracia. These women identified themselves as Sisters of the Morning Star, arrived to bring the faith of the Saint of Passion to the people of Thracia, and to lend what aid they could to the war effort against the Iron Priests. Though not particularly well-regarded by Thracia’s conservative population, they could not deny the prowess their Sword-Wardens displayed on the field, and the sermons of their priestesses seemed to work miracles amongst the flagging morale of the beleaguered soldiers. Enthralled, Ynnefer begged and pleaded with her family to allow her to depart with the Sisters to their distant monastery. Eventually, they relented.

Ynnefer never saw her family again. A year after she began her training with the Cult of the Morning Star, her father’s unit was deployed to the field in a desperate gamble to stop the advance of the Iron Priest’s armored regiment. Though the advance was halted after a month of fighting retreats, her father and two brothers were killed in battle. Her mother died of the pox later that year.

While at Caer Uruk, the temple of the Cult of the Morning Star, she met the dashing young Sword-Warden, Seyan Carterius. The two became fast friends and friendly rivals and, soon, lovers as well. They have remained close in the twenty years since. Ynnefer also became friends, and lovers, with Vena, a Tribal huntress from the Tenebrous Marsh, and, together, the three of them have engaged in exploits against rogue psykers, monstrous creatures and daemonic entities that some consider to be legendary in proportion.

When Caer Uruk was attacked two years ago by an unknown force (Ynnefer suspects Executors sent by the Iron Priests), she and Vena supported Jarad Sturm in evacuating as many people as they could, though this was, ultimately, precious few. Currently, she resides in The Hub, along with the rest of the survivors from Caer Uruk, and has been tasked with recovering Ahymie, one of the Cult’s Sybils, and discovering the whereabouts of Seyan Carterius, who turned up missing at the battle for Caer Uruk.